WNYW: Thrive at Five

WNBC made quite a splash by scrapping 5 p.m. news/adding 7 p.m. news this week, believing viewers weren’t really home at 5 anymore. Is that really the case? New York’s Fox affiliate WNYW reports a 33% boost in household ratings for its 5 p.m. newscast Monday, when WNBC aired Extra in a new time slot. (WNYW came up with the number by comparing it to the average from the previous 12 days.)

Was coverage of Britney’s VMA "performance" not enough to drive viewers to Extra?